Julia Fox’s ‘closed vagina’ is wrong and glamorises FGM

Opinion by Sema Gornall, Social Entrepreneur, Anti-VAWG Activist & CEO of The Vavengers 

Trigger Warning: This opinion piece includes mentions of FGM and other forms of Gender-Based Violence as well as graphic descriptions of violence. 

When I saw Julia Fox’s “closed vagina” post on Instagram I felt sick to my stomach. The actress’ underwear - dawning an image of female genitalia stitched together - was essentially a poster for type III Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), something I see too often as an anti-FGM campaigner. 

Whatever message the Uncut Gems star was trying to send - it didn’t land. The post was tasteless, inconsiderate and re-traumatising for survivors and those at risk of FGM.

More infuriating, was the total lack of mention of FGM in the comment section or anywhere online. Over 230 million women and girls alive today have been subjected to this form of sexual violence, yet FGM is still overlooked.

Why is it that we are not all outraged globally about FGM? What will it take to raise awareness against this abhorrent form of abuse and why don’t people seem to care? Is it because it predominantly affects Black and Brown women?

Please do better

The post was not only senseless but also dangerous. It glamorises FGM and potentially puts young women and girl children at risk of being harmed. The power of social media is clear. Spreading misinformation or promoting violence can quickly translate into real-world consequences. 

As the CEO of a leading anti-FGM charity The Vavengers, I know all too well the daily struggles and stigmas survivors face. I come from a community where women and girls are at risk of this form of abuse and I write this because survivors should not have to be alone in standing up against FGM and as an activist, I want everyone to understand there is a moral duty. We should all protest this and be as outraged as the survivors. 

I received a flurry of calls and messages from fellow activists working to end this form of abuse, many speaking about how triggering this was.

“I haven’t seen anything as hurtful as this in a long time.” wrote Hoda Ali, FGM survivor and co-founder of The Vavengers. “Please make it make sense.”

Dr Leyla Hussein OBE, a notable anti-FGM activist shared a “red alert” on social media, asking followers to stop tagging her in the post. 

“It’s akin to tagging a rape victim with images of rape, we must be more considerate and sensitive,” she wrote. “Please do better.” 

Pure Trauma 

My inbox was also filled with messages from distressed young people reaching out to ask for our support services as they felt re-traumatised and some also rightfully shared their outrage. 

One message read: “I am so scared and this is pure trauma, can the media not see this is FGM? Please reach out to media platforms and tell them it’s wrong, tell them it’s abuse and it’s terrifying us, FGM isn’t fashionable.

Another survivor friend called me in tears, “You know FGM may never end if people can’t even see this is problematic.” she said.

“What have we been campaigning for? I am losing hope when people with huge platforms can just do this and news outlets do not even mention FGM as if no one knows about it, how did they overlook FGM, how did they not think to question her action to open a conversation for her to acknowledge what she did reminded me and who knows how many of us of the day we were violated and sewn up?” 

Imagine someone mutilating a part of your body, you having to campaign all your life to stop it from happening to others, and then see people endorsing it on social media as a‘ fashion statement’.

It’s abuse - ok?

When I saw Leyla’s post the first thing that came to mind was the fact that anti-FGM activists always have to compromise and give an example of another form of abuse where the public widely understands what’s talked about to compare to FGM and how FGM is a form of abuse too. It’s quite unfair because we are constantly trying to make the world believe FGM is abuse and actions such as Julia’s normalises FGM which is a huge blow to our anti-FGM campaign. 

Why is it that people still struggle to comprehend cutting a woman or girl child’s vulva is sexual violence, child abuse and Gender-Based Violence? Why does FGM require campaigning or education for people to see it as something wrong? 

Every few seconds a girl child somewhere around the globe is subjected to FGM. We need urgent action against FGM and it’s not acceptable for media to overlook a form of abuse as widespread as FGM. 

When I spoke to The Vavengers Co-founder Hoda talking about what we were seeing on the media, we shared the same concern on how FGM was failed to mention once throughout social media by news outlets.  As we were distraught about what we were seeing and found it hard to process, Hoda said to me: 

“I cannot believe what I am seeing, a white woman “wearing” FGM as a fashion outfit and she can just take it off when she wants to. You know I can’t take off my vulva like an outfit at the end of the day like she can and be done with my harmed vulva when I want to, this is entirely disrespectful of my lived experience and very traumatising to both me and millions of women and girls alive today living with FGM. Has FGM become a joke to people now? Has violence against women and girls become fashionable now so more of us can be hurt?” 

Unfortunate enough, I knew it was once again down to anti-FGM activists to educate to clarify why this was wrong so I jumped on my Vavengers office email and wrote to all online-known agents of Julia Fox so that they could perhaps discuss this with their client and take action and acknowledge a harmful action was taken. In my email, I clarified it was not a subjective outfit and asked for immediate action.

At a time when FGM campaigning is already facing a hit with rapidly increasing numbers and The Gambia debating in their parliament whether FGM should be legalised again, we cannot afford to ‘normalise’ this violence on mainstream media and news outlets have a duty of care to report violence accurately and not as a ‘fashion statement’. 

Growing up

Growing up in an abusive environment, I was used to hearing verbal threats of FGM from elders. Anything from ‘burning one’s vulva’ to ‘sticking knives into the vagina’ as a form of punishment for women and girls not accepting gender roles. 

People, even those without any lived experience, surely should have the ability to see that this is violence and cannot be glamorised. It should not be the job of survivors and the ones who grew up or remain at risk of FGM to educate everyone on why FGM is wrong. 

I still wonder, how many more documentaries, exhibitions, films, campaigns and law changes will it take for the world to be educated on FGM. If little boys' hands were being cut off, the world would be in uproar. If a celebrity posted a photo imitating that, there would be outrage. Race and gender relations are very much at display with this incident and we have to acknowledge this and do better globally.

As an activist, I am hugely disappointed by the total media blackout on this topic. A simple Google search for ‘Julia Fox, FGM and closed vagina’ will bring up no results. The missing word - FGM. The sinking feeling in my stomach returned. It’s 2024 and there’s still a long way to go for survivors to be heard and understood. 

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If you or someone you know is in distress or need support as a result of surviving or being at risk of any form of Gender-Based Violence, please visit www.thevavengers.co.uk 

United Kingdom - Urgent help and advice: https://www.gov.uk/female-genital-mutilation-help-advice